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Show /s~ REASONS FOR NEED FOR DEVELOPING WILDLIFE RESOURCE REPORTS My experience as a lone, citizen wildlife advocate (unsponsored by any group)working in the Rocky Mountains in protecting habitat areas and upgrading wildlife management* under conditions of rapid resource development on public lands, leads me to certain conclusions about public input. I am convinced of the need of independently prepared wildlife resource information which must be available for public presentation as Issues of development take place. Issue by issue, the wildlife resource base needs to be supplied to support public protection action. Research and on-the-spot information is valueless filed in Agency drawers or In University PhD. files. I have found that - - in two major areas of development, southeast Idaho for phosphate ore, and northeast Utah, wildlife Information Isn't publicized adequately, If at all. Issues are complex, land jurisdictions intertwined, the varieties of species Involved are extensive. - unlike Idaho, funding for a State Division of Wildlife Re- • sources publication was stopped. When renewed recently, there was no real freedom to present Issues of conflict over development. (I know. I was pushing the Editor to do this.) So the hunter or fisherman reads only Information on types of flies for fishing, or "How to catch a Brown trout!" Even though the State Agency responsible for wildlife resources was battling for wildlife on many issues, it was unable to present the issues for discussion. - concerned wildlife staffs - both State and Federal - can be limited to their Agency positions. - Agencies managing Federal lands appear to me to be Increasingly oriented to consumptive uses of public resources for State development which override the National interests in wildlife and recreation. - citizens and group; get involved too late in the development process - citizens can uncritically accept Agency, State and mineral developer's philosophies. In Vernal, Utah, as at Rock Springs, Wyoming, citizens can be heard repeating development justifications - word for word - as propounded by mining representatives. (I have called this brainwashing!) - affiliate groups in Utah of National (wildlife) organizations are themselves not aggressively developing wildlife habitat information as developments are proposed. - with no independently prepared resource base on wildlife requirements or impacts from development made available for hearings or EIS presentations, attitudes of "let the expert decide" can and do prevail. Wholly Inadequate EIS preparations *Working with Merrill Petoskey, interim Forest Service wildlife chief |
